Electric.ie July/August 2021

ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • 39 APC unveils €25m investment and 120 jobs to accelerate development A PC Ltd, the award-winning Irish pharmaceutical research and development company, is investing €25M and creating 120 jobs through the formation of a ‘Global Centre of Excellence for Vaccine and Advanced Therapeutic Research and Manufacturing’. As a global ‘medicine accelerator’, APC’s expanded facility will enable the rapid research and manufacture of vaccines, including Covid 19 vaccines, and other advanced therapeutics for rare diseases. It will provide supply chains nationally and across Europe with these vital medicines, positioning Ireland as a signi cant contributor on the international stage to the manufacture of Covid vaccines and other critical Advanced Therapeutics. €8m of this investment involves the construction of an additional 12,000 sq. ft of laboratory space and associated research infrastructure at APC’s existing 60,000 sq. ft headquarters in Cherrywood, Dublin. The expansion, which will be fully operational by the end of June 2021, will add 50 new highly skilled jobs to the existing team of 140 people, with roles in chemistry, biology, chemical engineering, analytical sciences coming on stream immediately, along with other various professional pharmaceutical positions. The expansion will ‒ Manufacturing facility will have annual full-scale capacity for hundreds of millions of vaccine doses and other therapeutic doses. ‒ Enterprise Ireland supports APC’s continued growth – welcomes creation of high value jobs and the strengthening of Ireland’s position in the global value chain of vaccine development and manufacturing. Industry News support the research acceleration of Covid-19 vaccines and other Advanced Therapeutics. At the same time, APC is also announcing a €17m investment in the creation of VLE Therapeutics Ltd. to focus on the manufacture of Vaccines and Advanced Therapeutics, including Cell and Gene Therapies. This will be the rst Irish-owned facility expressly designed to provide Ireland and Europe with a local supply chain for these critical medicines. Stage 1 of VLE will have a new manufacturing facility in place by the end of 2021, with an annual full-scale capacity of up to 50 million vaccine doses. Up to 70 new jobs are planned as part of this investment across manufacturing operations, supply chain, engineering, QA / QC, and regulatory. Stage 2 of VLE’s manufacturing capability will deliver a new bespoke 80,000 sq. ft manufacturing facility by the end of 2023. This facility will provide a world-class platform for the Drug Substance and Drug Product clinical and commercial manufacture of a wide range of Vaccines and Advanced Therapeutics with dose capacity in the hundreds of millions. Enterprise Ireland is supporting the investment in APC’s ‘Global Centre of Excellence for Advanced Therapeutic and Vaccine Research and Manufacture’. Through the Covid-19 Products Scheme, Enterprise Ireland has supported APC’s new research facility for the accelerated process development of vaccine candidates and new medicines. Enterprise Ireland is also providing strategic funding for APC’s sister company VLE to manufacture advanced therapeutics and vaccines, including Covid-19 vaccines. Group Chief Executive Officer to APC and VLE, Dr. Mark Barrett